How to necro?!

[Taiku]

Level 8 currently on my Iksar necro, I've got no idea how to play still, I can take stuff by just kind of bashing it with my pet and trying to tank when I can but my pet can easily out DPS me, and seemingly out tank and out regen me, so leveling solo is very slow.

In groups all I really do is send pet, lifetap/dark empathy, I feel like a weird off-healer.

Im sure this changes once I get certain spells and such but I couldn't find anywhere that was actually informative on what spells to use, how to use them, what I should be doing as a necro, the only guides I see are WHERE to farm.

I just hope these early levels are supposed to be difficult because I'm not really enjoying the feeling of this class so far, my snare is too short of duration and doesn't slow enough to get much of a gap between me and the mob, and if it resists then I'm taking a few big hits to the face while I try to recast, fear costs a big chunk of my mana pool, my DoTs aren't terribly effective, and the aggro from the DoTs is just insane (I know it's bugged on this server). So the only way I can see to level properly solo is to just have my pet do all the work and take the 50% xp cut.

Any help would be very appreciated! Also what are some cheap robes that are black or at least some other color than pink, this pink newbie robe is hurting my eyes already :)

[Taiku]

There is a necro how to post in this forum section but it's for 20+ with spells I don't have yet, was more wondering about 8-20 ^^

[Taiku]

Seems just after posting this I found a good rhythm for pulling blues to my pet with lvl 1 lifetap, letting him take the 50% xp, and saving mana to nuke the hell out of undead for full XP between easy blue pulls, any advice would still be beneficial but I think I have a good pace going finally

[kaos057]

Darkness, poison, fear, send pet. When mob is feared dots do more damage. As far as a cheap robe, flowing black robe is a good starter robe for necro since it has stamina.

[kaos057]

Also make sure you train a point in meditate if you haven't already...

[Estu]

At that level I found that it was fastest to just have the pet take 50% of the EXP. Summon a max-level pet, send it at a monster, keep the pet healed, throw in DoTs later in the fight if you have extra mana, and keep Dark Pact up at all times. That plows through monsters pretty quickly, enough so that it's faster than trying to do 50% of the damage to the monster (i.e. you can get more than two kills using this method for each kill that you get spending a lot of mana to get full EXP and then medding up).

[filthyphil]

Fear, Darkness, Dots, sit down & wait for about 20% damage to be done, refresh fear & darkness if needed, send pet.

[Taiku]

How do you summon a "max level" pet? Is it just based on what level you are when you cast it? Or do I have to recast it over and over hoping to get a higher level one?

[Splorf22]

Necros have three really strong abilities:

1) Undead charm (from 24)
2) Heal with dispell (from 44)
3) DoTs for efficient damage (when solo)
3b) Undead nukes for reasonable efficiency

The more of these you are doing, the more effective you'll be.

[Estu]

How do you summon a "max level" pet? Is it just based on what level you are when you cast it? Or do I have to recast it over and over hoping to get a higher level one?

The latter. You can check what level it is by conning it and by checking its max hit. A higher level pet will be much more effective. The wiki has info on their level ranges.

[Widan]

Fear, Darkness, Dots, sit down & wait for about 20% damage to be done, refresh fear & darkness if needed, send pet.

Yea this doesn't work before like 20 when you get lich, because you'd be spending your whole mana bar. Best bet is to find someone to duo with to take away pet exp penalty, or just let pet eat the penalty and periodically heal him if solo.

[Potus]

Stick to killing the undead.

You get a 41dmg nuke for 30 mana (way more efficient than poison bolt)

At level 12 you get Spook the Dead, which is the best undead fear spell. 2 seconds, 10 mana. Simply snare, fear, let pet kill. Engulfing Darkness should do roughly 100 damage for you.

[Malone88]

From 12 to 17 I did a lot of "tap-tanking". Could usually kill two (maybe three) dark
blues before mana (and vampiric embrace) was out.

1) Cast Vampiric Embrace on self (should last two or three fights)
2) Darkness
3) Pet Attack
4) Leach
5) Heat Blood
6) Tank mob casting Lifetap to regain health lost.

Used Sacrificial Dagger as weapon (might be better weaps out there). Mobs go down pretty fast. If Vampiric Embrace procs a couple times during fight, don't need the Lifetap as much, which saves mana. No worries about pet outdamaging you because DoTs do full damage.

At around level 17, I headed to Unrest and found groups there and utilized undead spells more (root and dd).

[Zyn]

Until you get to level 12, I would park your pet on the noob ramp and pull with siphon strength (doesn't generate a lot of aggro) and then have your pet come in as you pull the mob back to your pet.

I don't think your dots are worth it just yet, and fear is too risky at this level. Just heal your pet and occasionally nuke it with a lifetap.

Once you get to 12, you can solo kurns pretty effectively with your undead nuke. Same tactic applies there too. Your level 12 pet is pretty reliable, but your level 16 pet is garbage.

[Nagash]

You can start soloing the entrance of Kurn naked at level 8 if you have a big pair under your caster robe.

[Essedge]

You can start soloing the entrance of Kurn naked at level 8 if you have a big pair under your caster robe.

:confused:

[smooman]

real quick related question.

Soloing for life here, level 8 so far.

Just got the level 8 pet

Takes me 10 casts just to get the max level pet (20 bone chips) is this normal?

Thanks.

[Estu]

real quick related question.

Soloing for life here, level 8 so far.

Just got the level 8 pet

Takes me 10 casts just to get the max level pet (20 bone chips) is this normal?

Thanks.

It's random. So, yeah, that can happen.

[Autotune]

Just get some nasty weapons for your pet and then just let it eat the 50%, you have to look at xp/hr instead of xp/kill.

Once you get your array of undead spells, try to stick to killing those as you'll be more mana efficient against them. Later on, when you're more confident and have some decent CC spells for all mobs (good root/fears) you won't really need a summoned pet.

Best way to level, is by stealing the enchanter reverse charming trick and using it on undead mobs (later on though).

[dhoushi]

2) Heal with dispell (from 44)


Care to elaborate on this point?

[Autotune]

Care to elaborate on this point?

You cast your heal spell on a target, then target yourself, and then dispell the debuff.

If you're fast you'll only take a tick or two.

[Vexenu]

Necro healing is actually amazingly good.

Pact of Shadow - 320 hitpoint heal over time for 10 mana
Shadowbond - 500 hitpoint heal over time for 10 mana
Nullify magic - Remove Shadowbond & Pact recourses for 50 mana

So you basically have a 820hp heal for 70 mana. That is near-CH healing efficiency from an INT caster. Craziness.

You do take a tick or two of damage from the pacts but it doesn't add up to much and you'd be tapping that health back anyway.